Hydrological Modelling to Inform Forest Management: Moving Beyond Equivalent Clearcut Area
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22230/jwsm.2023v6n1a47Abstract
Forest disturbance can alter the hydrologic conditions of a watershed, including the frequency, magnitude, and timing of peak and low flows. Equivalent Clearcut Area (ECA) has been routinely used in watershed assessments to estimate hydrologic alteration due to forest disturbance. ECA analyses typically rely on broad regional assumptions, qualitative observations, and/or expert judgement, making it difficult to provide accurate quantitative estimates of hydrologic change. Process-based hydrological models offer an improved approach since they replicate watershed processes, can simulate land cover and climate change scenarios, and provide quantitative estimates of hydrologic change, including at ungauged points of interest. A workflow using a regionally calibrated hydrological model to investigate forest disturbance and future climate change scenarios is demonstrated. Results are contrasted with ECA-based outputs and emphasize that in addition to the amount of forest disturbance, watershed physical characteristics and the location of disturbance within a watershed influence the hydrologic response. This approach provides forest managers with quantitative outputs that support risk-based forest management decisions and presents a substantial improvement over ECA-based methods.
Keywords: hydrological modelling, ECA-based analysis, watershed assessment, forest disturbance, cumulative effects, risk-based forest management
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Matthew Chernos, Kim Green, Ryan MacDonaldSubmission of an original manuscript to the Journal will be taken to mean that it represents original work not previously published, that it is not being considered elsewhere for publication; that the author is willing to assign copyright to the journal as per a contract that will be sent to the author just prior to publication and, if accepted for publication, it will be published in print and online and it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, for commercial purposes, in any language, without the consent of the publisher. The author licenses the right of exclusive publication to Confluence for one year and agrees to cite the journal as the original publisher in all subsequent uses under the author's control or influence.
The journal takes the stance that the publication of scholarly research is meant to disseminate knowledge and, in a not-for-profit regime, benefits neither publisher nor author financially. It sees itself as having an obligation to its authors and to society to make content available online now that the technology allows for such a possibility.
Authors who publish in Confluence: Journal of Watershed Science and Management agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada Licence. This licence allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given. For details of the rights an author grants users of their work, please see the licence summary and the full licence.
